DINING OUT - 5 appetizing places to have Easter dinner

Thursday

Easter Sunday is just around the corner and not everyone wants to toil in the kitchen on a beautiful spring day.

Easter Sunday is just around the corner and not everyone wants to toil in the kitchen on a beautiful spring day.

Looking for a little Portuguese flair? There's Faial Restaurant, 970 Douglas Pike, Smithfield, (401) 231-1100. They offer both a brunch and dinner. There are two seatings for the all-you-can eat brunch: 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. The cost is $11.95. The buffet includes fruit cup, French toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries, sausage, a ham carving station, grilled chourico and coffee or tea.

Dinner will be served from noon to 6 p.m. with the full menu as well as specials including prime rib, baked ham and Portuguese dishes including Carne de Porco Alentejana, marinated pork with littlenecks and potatoes, Bife Portuguese and baked stuffed swordfish, and Peixe de Serra, a house specialty brimming with more delicacies of the sea, including shrimp and scallops. Reservations required.

Feeling like a little Parisian-style Easter? Le Central, an airy French bistro on busy Hope Street in Bristol, offers dining from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the regular menu (Moules au Feu, roasted mussels with parsley-garlic butter; Coq au Vin, duck confit; and maybe if you are lucky, Croque Monsieur, a pan toasted sandwich of French Jambon ham and Gruyere). There will also be specials and they are still a secret but owner Jesse James did promise a version of grilled leg of lamb and lobster omelets.

The bistro is at 483 Hope St., Bristol, (401) 396-9965, Lecentralbristol.net and the reservation book is filling up.

Like a lot of food and a variety of it with your Easter Bunny? Then it's the Venus de Milo for you in Swansea at 75 GAR Highway, (508) 678-3901 or (401) 861-2780. The Easter Buffet includes prime rib, seafood Newburg, baked ham, roasted turkey breast, chicken marsala, pasta à la vodka, baked scrod, chicken tenders and fries, Delmonico potatoes, Asian rice, sautéed vegetables, coffee, pastry and cakes. The cost is $29.50; $10.95 for children 10 and under. Seatings are at noon, 12:30 p.m., 3 and 3:30 p.m., and by reservation all day through 7:30 p.m. in the dining room.

Brunch or dinner with a Greek accent can be found at Andreas Restaurant on College Hill at 268 Thayer St., Providence, (401) 331-7879, andreasri.com. Brunch will be served from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner will begin at 11 a.m. with the regular menu of Greek and American specialties. Easter specials will be offered starting at noon. Those include leg of lamb, glazed ham, prime rib and a special fish dish. The restaurant closes at 1 a.m.

For a Newport setting, there's One Bellevue at the Hotel Viking, which offers Easter brunch with seatings at 9, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. featuring breakfast items, raw bar, salad and carving station.